Competition between nations has been around for centuries, with sport being the main focal point for rivalry between countries. Now, more than ever, we’re also seeing an increase in popularity of eSports and board and card games, with individuals challenging each other all over the world for championship prizes and huge sums of money.
But with competition comes the temptation of playing against the rules. Bingo game comparison site, Bingoscanner has used search volume to show which countries are most likely to cheat during a game. Including terms such as ‘how to cheat’, ‘how to win’ and ‘cheat code for’, the study analysed which country has the highest search volume per month and may therefore be more likely to be cheating.
🎮 Norway’s Johan Sundstein is the highest-earning eSports star 🎮
As eSports continues to have money invested into it, the opportunity to earn high sums is becoming more accessible. Not only are there just prices to win, but playing online games is now considered a profession, with stars earning up to 7 figures. But who are the rising stars in the eSport community, and how much do they really win?
Rank | Country represented | Full name | eSports username | Total earnings ($) |
1 | Norway | Johan Sundstein | N0tail | $6,969,737.80 |
2 | Finland | Jesse Vainikka | JerAx | $6,470,548.78 |
3 | Australia | Anathan Pham | ana | $6,000,441.96 |
4 | France | Sebastien Debs | Ceb | $5,559,712.41 |
5 | Finland | Topias Taavitsainen | Topson | $5,476,317.57 |
6 | Germany | Kuro Takhasomi | KuroKy | $5,198,604.15 |
7 | Jordan | Amer Al-Barkawi | Miracle- | $4,801,541.68 |
8 | Bulgaria | Ivan Ivanov | MinD_ContRoL | $4,582,616.16 |
9 | Lebanon | Maroun Merhej | GH | $4,196,910.69 |
10 | Finland | Lasse Urpalainen | Matumbaman | $3,765,369.04 |
The competition within eSports is beginning to attract large audiences all across the globe. As studies show, in 2020 there were an estimated 495 million people watching eSport at competition level – this is set to increase to 646 million in 2023. Comparatively, 1.12 billion people watched the 2018 World Cup final between France and Croatia.
With these large viewing numbers and sold-out arenas, the prize money through sponsorship attraction has grown significantly. Johan Sundstein, a competitor for Norway and professional Defense of the Ancients (DOTA 2) player, has earned a staggering $6,969,737.80 during his eSports career – the same amount as Premier League football club, Manchester City, paid their stars on average in 2020.
For even more news from the Rising World of eSports Head here
